I recently wrote a review of Personal Development for Smart People — Steve Pavlina’s new book. That review is up on LifeHack and I’m ready to give the book away. I definitely think it’s worth a read for freelancers looking to improve on their current situation (no matter whether we’re talking about health, relationships or money).

To enter, leave a comment about what resources you’ve used to improve your productivity as a writer before
the end of the day Tuesday. I’ll randomly select a winner on Wednesday (a week from today). I
will pay shipping within the U.S. — if you win and live outside the
U.S., I’ll ask you to cover the difference.

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7 Comments

Hm. Well, I tried using DarkRoom, a word processor that takes up your whole screen so you can’t distract yourself by clicking over to other windows. It didn’t do me any good, though–it wasn’t harmful, but it turns out I write just as productively whether there are things on my screen to distract me or not. The issue is whether I’m mentally prepared to be distracted or not. In fact, sometimes I allow myself to be distracted and am productive anyway. So I guess the only resource I need is my own mental state.

I write nonfiction, so my best resource is my shelf of reference books. I can go there for inspiration, thumb through a favorite source, and find something that stirs up my thoughts enough to write about. A real springboard for me!

The funny thing is I am using personal development! I have always had a mind block when I comes to writing. Being one of those “technical” people grammar and spelling escaped my reasoning so I tended towards verbal communication vs. written.

By applying the principals of personal development to overcome my reluctance to write I do the following… Written goals, like posting comments daily. Don’t wait for perfect opportunity, just do it! Allow myself to make mistakes and move on. Focus on the ideal solution not the big ugly problem.

Thanks for the review by the way, I have recently become a big fan of Steve. I also enjoy MorningCoach.com.

My business is about using personal development to “Start a New Life, Not a New Job!™”. You can learn more about it at Ex-Employee.com

It’s been a while but I’m trying to get back on the horse. Boy, could I use this book! Back in the day, when I was productive (pre kids), I would wake up early and work for three hours in a row. That was my technique.